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URBAL
PROGRAMME
URB-AL
is a horizontal programme of decentralised co-operation of the European
Commission that brings together towns and regions in Europe and Latin
America. The main objective of the programme is to contribute to the improvement
of socio-economic conditions and the quality of life of the population,
while developing a direct, long-lasting association between cities.
The
city of Malaga has been selected to lead the programme's Network 6 on
Urban Environment. As a result, Malaga will be responsible for co-ordinating
the joint projects undertaken by the Network's city members and other
associate members from both Europe and Latin America.
When
choosing the leading city for this network, the European Commission valued
Malaga's extensive experience
in the field of urban environment very highly. Added to
this, Malaga ranks among other pioneering cities in Europe and is the
first city in Spain to draw up an Agenda 21 (known as Malaga's Green
Charter) - a document that pools together all the different measures
that must be implemented to ensure a sustainable city. The city's considerable
expertise in managing European Programmes (URBAN, POMAL, ECOS OUVERTURE)
and the award HABITAT II for Good Practices have also influenced the selection
of Malaga to lead this network.
On
25th October 2000, the Town Corporation of Malaga and the European
Commission officially signed the contract that ratifies Malaga as
leader of Network 6 of the URBAL Programme, i.e. the city member responsible
for steering, co-ordinating and managing the network.
Malaga
Town Corporation has appointed the CIEDES
Foundation to act as the Co-ordination Office for
Network 6, in view of the Foundation's broad experience in managing both
European programmes and other issues related to urban environment and
environmental sustainability.
MALAGA'S
EXPERIENCE IN URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Currently,
the city is implementing a series of urban environmental measures as a
result of Malaga's strong commitment to ensuring that concepts such as
quality of life and sustainable development can effectively be put into
practice.
Today
Malaga, with its privileged location on the Mediterranean shores of southern
Spain, is perhaps a good example of a town that has matured within the
context of classical European urban development. Simultaneously, however,
Malaga also has areas of dependent development that is the usual model
found throughout Latin America.
Between
1900 and 1960 Malaga's population grew steadily as the city itself spread.
From 1960 onwards, though, Malaga's economic model was geared entirely
to the construction and services sectors catering for the tourist trade.
Over just a 20-year period, the city both grew in size (including the
overall metropolitan area) and doubled in population (1960: 250,000 inhabitants;
1980: 503,000 inhabitants; 2000: 550,000 inhabitants) thanks to the flow
of immigrants in search of steady employment from the hinterland down
to the coast and from other areas of Andalusia.
The
flourishing tourist services sector all along the stretch of coast that
would soon become known as the Costa del Sol (the Sun Coast) attracted
the rural, farming population to Malaga in the hopes of finding higher,
more regular incomes. These immigrants settled both in central areas of
the city, with poorly developed housing options, and on the city's outskirts,
where the existing acute lack of basic infrastructure and the degradation
of the urban environment only worsened as the city mushroomed haphazardly.
The
city's heavy dependence on exogenous factors (in this case tourism) to
boost economic development has had a dual effect on the organisation and
growth of the urban space. On one hand, improvements in per capita income
and steady employment have been achieved. However, the expansive development
model used has seriously hampered harmonious growth and sacrificed the
environmental context that, over time, would become a real handicap for
the Malaga of today.
At
the beginning of the eighties, Malaga managed to maintain steady growth
and targets were set by the town corporation to attain balanced levels
for drainage and sanitation, parkland and community infrastructure. Malaga's
Agenda 21, drawn up in 1995 (Malaga´s Green Charter) within the framework
of the city's Strategic Plan, meant that concerns regarding harmonious
urban development for the population as a whole were laid down in a compendium
of rights, duties and guidelines steering future actions on the urban
environment. The city's commitment to these principles was echoed by the
community's full support and involvement. As these two documents were
being drawn up, over 3,000 Malaga citizens gathered to discuss the various
topics in the some 100 hours of public debate and foundation work.
Initially
the Town Corporation allocated their own funds to improvements in the
city. Later, however, several European programmes financed by Community
funds (Urban, Futures, Pomal) enabled considerable improvements to be
made in the city's services.
A
series of measures for the urban environment are also currently under
way. Among these are the following:
A)
Restoring and revitalising the historic city centre. During the city's
transformation process, the abandoned centre was sorely overlooked. This
has meant the city centre has sustained a partial loss of its own identity
as well as forfeiting its leading role as the hub of the metropolis.
B)
Waste Water Treatment. This measure involves building two water treatment
plants, one on either side of the city, as well as a network of sanitation
pumping stations, drainage systems and embankments for many waterways.
C)
Reusing solid wastes from the city. A purpose built plant that performs
two distinct processes: i.e. selective management of inorganic matter
and the composting of the organic fraction of waste for use as a fertiliser.
D)
Retrieving natural areas and improvements to the urban medium. In all,
over 980,000 m2 of parkland have been earmarked for the city in 6 large
parks, some redesigned and others newly laid out. Public gardens have
also been opened in several districts and trees now line the central reservation
of the city's main streets.
E)
Community awareness. Environmental awareness campaigns have been set up,
mainly targeting school children of all ages, while Malaga's Agenda 21
(Green Charter) is publicised widely and an Environmental Bus regularly
tours the districts of the city.
F)
Noise maps. Maps have been drawn up showing the critical areas and times
where noise is causing a problem in the city, so that measures can be
implemented to alter and prevent noise pollution.
Malaga's
experience in such processes as gaining community consensus and transforming
the city has been widely disseminated. Malaga's initiative has in fact
been the subject of discussion at many European and Latin American meetings,
such as the II European Sustainable Cities Conference held in Lisbon,
the European Conference on Sustainable Tourism held in Calvia, the Habitat
II Conference held in Istanbul, or the International Seminar on Strategic
Town Planning for Sustainable Development in Latin America held in Bogota,
amongst many others. Malaga has also taken an active part in networks
run under the auspices of organisations such as CIDEU (Centro Iberoamericano
de Desarrollo Estratégico Urbano), ICLEI (International Centre for Local
Environment Initiatives), UMI (Unión Iberoamericana de Municipalistas),
IULA (International Union of Local Authorities), the Sustainable Cities
Network, the Healthy Cities Network, L'Institut bruxellois pour la gestion
de l'environnement, the Eurocities Association, the World Union for the
Conservation of Nature (providing assistance for the setting up of the
Mediterranean branch of the organisation in Malaga) and The European Information
Service on Good Practices, amongst others.
Malaga's excellent
work has not gone unrecognised. Several prizes and mentions awarded by
various institutions all acknowledge the progress in the city's approach
to urban development. For instance, Malaga is the only European city to
be awarded the Habitat II Prize for Good Practices in 1998 from the United
Nations. Other relevant prizes and distinctions include the National Congress
Prize for the Environment in 1998, mention in the European Sustainable
Cities Award 1997, the Spanish National "Escoba de Plata" Award 1997 (for
clean cities) or the Prize "Andalucía de Economía y Hacienda" 1995(for
the city's Strategic Plan). This recognition has spurred Malaga to encourage
the local population to stride forward on the road towards sustainability,
sharing with and learning from other cities.
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